Borrowed Time (Profound Bond)
by Shellie Rae
Summary: I'm playing around with the idea of Castiel discovering the fandom for the Carver Edlund books. What is our angel up to? Mid season 6-ish.


For someone older than dirt, Castiel had a lot to learn, and he knew it. One lazy Saturday, when the Winchesters did not require his help, he found a small town library and decided to teach himself as much as he could about the internet.

He had to use one of the fake IDs that Dean had given him to get a library card and sign in on one of the computers. He had watched Sam use a laptop plenty of times, but this was different. The librarian tried to be helpful. "No, double click," she told him again, as he struggled with the mouse. Finally she opened a search page for him. "Just type in what you want, and click this button." She walked away, exasperated.

Cas frowned at the monitor. Under a photo of the library, there was a little white box. What would you like to find? He glanced over the keyboard and poked a few letters. _god_

The screen flooded with text. _About 290,000 results found. Narrow results?_

* * *

Dean took a long drink from his beer, and set it down with a grin. "Why the hell don't we do this more often?" His voice was already a little slurred. Two women were watching him from a few tables over.

Sam had to chuckle. "You know exactly why." He followed Dean's gaze and shook his head in amusement. "Hey, where's Cas?" he wondered aloud.

Dean snapped his attention back. "I gave him the night off. Besides, he's a little rusty, it screws with my game." He smiled at the women again and they turned away giggling, whispering between themselves.

* * *

Cas was scrolling through another page of search results. _dean winchester_

This time the results were all news stories. He tapped the arrow key and scanned headline after headline of the times Dean had been arrested that made the paper. The more Cas looked, the more upset he became. He tried a different search.

_dean and sam_

Before he clicked the button, he considered how many people currently alive had those names. He sighed in frustration. Then he added two words.

_and castiel_

This time only a few thousand results came back, and they all seemed oddly similar. There were a few links to purchase books, and a few pages he didn't quite understand. He squinted as rows and rows of words flashed by. Something caught his attention and he scrolled back up, sure he had misread.

_...of course **Dean** is in love wit…_

He didn't quite understand the tight feeling in his chest as he clicked on the words and the page loaded.

* * *

Sam pushed away his plate and sighed. "So what next? Want to catch a movie?"

"I don't know, I'm in no hurry." Dean smirked. The two women were getting up from their booth and looking his direction. "Besides, it's about to get good."

Sam was distracted by his phone chirping. He had a text from Cas.

_is dean with you sam where are you_

Sam held his phone up to show Dean the message before he wrote back.

"Weird," Dean said, puzzled, but too tipsy to be concerned.

* * *

Castiel was hunched over the keyboard, typing with intense focus.

howismynamealreadytaken: _thank you once again ms licker_

howismynamealreadytaken: _you have been extremely helpful_

howismynamealreadytaken: _i hope to repay your kindness someday_

samlicker81: _no problem sweetie, good luck!_

samlicker81: _let us know how it works out ;-) fingers crossed_

Cas finally sat back and looked around. He had lost track of time, he must have been on that website for over an hour. He checked his phone and found the reply from Sam. His forehead creased with worry. He would have to move quickly.

* * *

Dean and Sam now had company at their booth. A pretty blond was practically sitting in Dean's lap. He raised his beer to Sam in cheers, but there was a brunette in the way. Dean laughed. "Ready to go now, little brother?"

Sam's response was muffled and he held up one finger at Dean.

The blond tugged his face back in her direction. "So, where are you staying?"

"Motel around the corner," he said, his voice sultry. "Will you be joining me?"

"Thought you'd never ask," she purred.

* * *

Dean made a mental note of which door the brunette dragged Sam into before he unlocked his own room. He gave the blond another rough kiss as he shut the door behind them. He pulled away just for a second to flick on the lights. "Cas?" Dean's stomach dropped as he saw the motionless body lying on one of the motel beds. He rushed over.

"Who the hell is that?" the woman asked, confused, and more than a little drunk.

"His name was Jimmy," another voice came from behind.

Dean whipped around to see another woman standing by the door they had just come in. "What happened," he demanded.

"He's not hurt. His body is in a sort of coma at the moment." She took a few steps closer, moving oddly, her posture stiff. Her straight black hair stopped just at her shoulders. She stared at Dean for a moment before turning to the blond. "You may go."

Dean sighed. "Rain check?" he offered.

The woman gave a harsh smile. "Not likely," she snapped, before storming out.

Dean locked the door after her. As he turned around, the strange woman was mere inches away. He stepped back, knocking against the door. "Geez, lady, personal space. Friggin angels." Her striking blue eyes studied him. She felt familiar. Dean huffed impatiently. "What are you, related to him or something?"

She frowned, tilting her head. "Why would you ask that?"

He slid away from between her and the door. "I don't know. You sort of look like him, I guess."

A smile broke across her face. "Is that a good thing?"

Dean stared blankly. He realized after a moment that she actually wanted an answer. "Uh… sure, I suppose. He's not a bad looking guy, not that I would…" His answer was cut off when she kissed him.

It was a good kiss, and Dean made no move to stop her. She kissed him softly at first, testing the waters. Then her hands came up behind his head, running her fingers through his hair, forcing his mouth open with hers.

She pulled away, leaving Dean gasping. She licked her lips, tasting the faint traces of beer from his mouth. "What that enjoyable for you?"

He rubbed a hand over his face. "Now hold on just a sec. You gonna tell me what's going on? Is he alright?" He motioned to the body behind him.

"He's absolutely fine," she assured him. "This seemed like the safest place to keep the vessel for the time being."

Dean's eyes grew wide. "Wait, you're not saying… you mean Cas left his vessel? Is he in some kind of trouble?"

She smiled. "There's no trouble. Castiel is perfectly safe. He chose to do this." She moved in and kissed him again.


End file.
